Food and Alcohol

By Sid • Mar 31st, 2008 • Category: Posts

Virtually no well spread table is complete without a good selection of alcohol. Most of us probably stay with the basics of white wine – white meat and red wine – red meat. Tell me, with what would you serve that Turkish Rakh you picked up at duty free the other day? Or perhaps your bottle of Tequila? Now don’t tell me Tequila is supposed to be drunk with a lick of salt and a squeeze of lime. They only do that in the movies. Try doing that in Mexico and they’ll laugh you out of the bar.

So, we’re on to something interesting here huh? So, let me pick something I wouldn’t normally expect to serve. Absinthe!? Here are some quick facts on Absinthe:

It’s highly alcoholic (45 – 75%)
It is anise flavored
It is made from herbs, including flowers and leaves from the wormwood plant.
While it’s typically green in color, it is also produced in clear and other artificially colored varieties.

Did you know Oscar Wilde was (as the story goes) highly hooked on to the stuff or “green fairy” as it was called then? I’d heard bad things about absinthe earlier, that it was highly addictive and made you ‘see things’ etc. Apparently, that was all bunkum. Even so, it was banned in nearly all of Europe. Now, after studies have conclusively proven that Absinthe is no more dangerous than any other alcohol, most European countries have rescinded the bad and brought it into the mainstream of liquor manufacture. Yes, it is a liquor, not a liqueur.

So, where do you buy Absinthe from? Ever since I made my first, trembling purchase on Amazon (yes, having designed the things [ecommerce websites] during the infancy of e-commerce, I have a tendency to stay away from them, that is, avoid actually using them) I’m very ‘pro online purchases’ and found a nice place to buy absinthe from – Buy-Absinthe-Alcohol.com! The site specialises in absinthe and even has something they call ‘Extreme d’absente’, which is Absinthe Extreme and is 70% alcohol – now that would pack quite a punch.

Seriously, this is the first time I’ve seen a site that specialises in such a niche variety of liquor. Though it could improve its general design and aesthetics, they’ve ensured that the links most consumers look for are there. I mean, they have a reasonably well stocked FAQ, a bunch of customer testimonials, take credit cards (visa, mastercard and amex) and a fairly easy to use shopping cart. Good enough for me. Did I tell you they have a blog on Absinthe too?

If you go take a look, let me know what you think. In the mean time, I’m going to read my new book – “Jacques Pepins, Complete Techniques”.

- Sid

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